1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to the surgical instrument art, and more particularly, to a surgical instrument and support unit for providing irrigation, aspiration, and illumination in a surgical incision.
2. Background Art
In many surgical procedures it is important and difficult to provide adequate lighting at the surgical site. Customarily, surgical rooms have large overhead lights to provide the lighting. On occasion some surgeons or assistants may carry auxillary light of one type or another to attempt to improve lighting at the exact position of surgery. In this type of lighting, shadows are a problem due to interference with the light path by the persons performing the surgery and the instruments and equipment being used.
Another important function during many surgical procedures is the irrigation of the surgical area with various fluids. It has been customary to use hand-held syringes filled by a nurse or other surgical assistant from a bowl and to irrigate by squeezing the syringe bulb. This procedure has many problems including, among others, the necessity for a surgical assistant to spend much time filling the syringes, delay in irrigating when desired, and inaccurate pressure control.
Another important function during many surgical procedures is the removal of fluids and small particles by aspiration from the incision. This function is performed by an aspiration tube handled by a member of the surgical team and is extremely important in keeping all portions of the incision clean and visible. The various materials are drawn by suction into the tube and away from the surgical area by a vacuum through the aspiration tube.
A surgical instrument for performing these three functions is disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 689,511, filed Jan. 8, 1985, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,617,013 to John J. E. Betz entitled METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SURGICAL IRRIGATION, ASPIRATION AND ILLUMINATION, assigned to Timron Instruments, Inc., a subsidiary of Vitalmetrics, Inc. The preferred embodiment disclosed therein comprises a hand-held instrument capable of simultaneously and cooperatively providing illumination, irrigation, and aspiration to the surgical site. The instrument includes a probe member and a handle member connected end-to-end and including three passageways for respectively supplying light, irrigating fluid, and suction to the surgical site.